H&M to test clothing rental service in Sweden

International clothing company Hennes & Mauritz opts for introducing clothing rentals to address the fashion industry’s huge impact on environmental change and greenhouse development. Daniel Claesson, H&M’s head of business development, stated: “We have a huge belief in rental, but we still want to test and learn quite a lot and do tweaks and changes.”

Either going after its competitors that have proven renting clothing to be successful (Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters), or seriously concerned about the environment, the company still needs to asses the three-month trial period and decide whether or not to expand the program’s offerings and reach.

The business model—which doubts Credit Suisse analyst Simon Irwin: “I’d be surprised if you can really make it work as a business model. I can’t see that the kind of labour cost involved in a rental model at those price points really makes sense.”—will grant members of its loyalty program access to 50 garments that they may rent for a given period of time, for approximately $37 USD a week in Stockholm, Sweden. The first concept store to implement the service will also have a clothing repair department and a coffee shop, located at Sergels Torg in the Swedish capital.